Global Golf Post, June 12, 2017

globalgolfpost com JUNE 12 2017 AMATEUR Medalists Prevail In Anderson MAMARONECK NEW YORK One of the great paradoxes of tournament golf is that more often than not medalists fail to make it through match play Part of that is because the two formats are so different and some players happen to be much more adept at one than the other It is also the result of it being difficult to play well through an entire competition But the low qualifiers in both divisions of this years Anderson Memorial which was contested for the 81st time at the Winged Foot Golf Club found ways to go wire to wire for a pair of very impressive victories In the Championship division the top seeded team of Kenny Ebalo and Shane Sigsbee of the Southern Highlands Golf Club in Las Vegas prevailed 3 and 2 against Brett Boner and Stephen Woodard of the Carolina Golf Club in Charlotte N C It was the fourth match the boys from Nevada had won during the weekend and this one hinged largely on two remarkable putts The first came on the short par 4 14th of Winged Foots East Course with Sigsbee draining a slick downhill putt nearly 30 feet in length for a birdie to go 3 up with his partner in his pocket after hitting his second shot out of bounds But Ebalo redeemed himself on the 15th when he made what was perhaps an even more exceptional putt from 35 feet and above the hole for another birdie They moved on to the 16th when their opponents answered with a 3 of their own and then a fairly routine 4 gave Ebalo and Sigsbee the title of the tournament named after a founding Winged Foot member and five time club champion John G Anderson In the Senior group Mike Peck and Bart Goodwin of the Old American Golf Club outside Dallas beat defending champions Brady Exber and George Zahringer of the Floridian 4 and 3 after a 36 hole qualifying score of 132 which was four shots ahead of anyone else And then the Texans went on a nice run of their own winning their Saturday morning match and then taking two on Sunday l RESULTS John Steinbreder Harmon Appearance Highlights Dinner MAMARONECK NEW YORK Generally the drama at the Anderson Memorial is confined to the golf courses on which it is played But perhaps the biggest excitement this year was over the presence of Bill Harmon at the traditional Thursday night dinner The youngest of four sons of celebrated Winged Foot head professional Claude Harmon who won the 1948 Masters while holding that job and still has the course records of 61 for both the East and West courses at this Westchester County retreat Bill grew up playing here with his brothers Butch Craig and Dick And he was good enough to have won the Winged Foot club championship in 1967 not to mention the Anderson in 1968 with his brother Dick who died in 2006 Bill described himself as being almost overwhelmed with emotion as the memories came flooding back upon his return last week A one time caddie to Jay Haas and now the director of instruction at Toscana Country Club in the Palm Springs Calif area as well as swing doctor to Haas son PGA Tour player Bill Haas Bill Harmon had been scheduled to speak at last years dinner But he received a diagnosis of tongue cancer a few weeks before and cancelled with his friend Curtis Strange taking his place But Harmon who is recovering made it this year and he and Strange entertained contestants with stories for nearly an hour Harmon also poked some fun at his siblings saying that while Butch may be regarded as the No 1 teacher in the world he is not the best teacher in the Harmon family RESTORATION UPDATE Per usual this years Anderson Memorial was contested on both the West and East courses at Winged Foot with the East being the site of this years match play portion The club has been employing architect Gil Hanse to restore both layouts which originally were designed by A W Tillinghast in the 1920s And Hanse is close to done with his work on the East completed a year ago and that on the back nine of the West finished last fall All that remains is a revamping of the front nine of the West beginning this autumn ANYTHING YOU CAN DO The Championship Division medalists were Kenny Ebalo and Shane Sigsbee from the Southern Highlands Golf Club in Las Vegas and their 36 hole score of 133 included a sizzling 63 the first day of play on the par 70 East In the Senior Division Mike Peck and Bart Goodwin of the Old American Golf Club just north of Dallas posted a qualifying score of 132 that featured an even more stellar 62 for their opening 18 TIGHT FINISHES The top 16 teams of the 64 competing in the Championship Division made it to match play and it took a playoff of 11 squads for nine spots to finalize that bracket The first hole of that face off was the infamous par 3 10th on the West Course and nine of the teams posted pars while two recorded bogeys That meant the playoff ended quickly which was a good thing because it did not begin until 7 30 p m on Friday and the sun was setting in a hurry There was a much smaller playoff for the eighth and last spot in the Senior Division and it ended up going to Michael Hooper and Guy Stutt of Brooklawn Country Club in Fairfield Conn who prevailed against Robbie Drew and Rocky Costa of Abacoa Golf Club in Jupiter Fla l John Steinbreder Kenny Ebalo Curtis Strange and Bill Harmon

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